The UK Royal Navy’s (RN) first of eight Type 26 or City-class frigate, HMS Glasgow, has entered the water for the first time.
This comes just a few days after BAE Systems began the float-off process for the vessel.
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The latest milestone under this process saw the ship’s hull being lowered from a barge into the waters of the River Clyde, on the shores of Loch Long in Scotland, UK.
A week prior to this, Glasgow was fixed to the barge to transit from BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard to Glen Mallan, where vessel’s barge gradually started sinking into the water until the hull was fully submerged.
A team of engineers and personnel closely monitored the process to address any sort of issues or faults encountered by the vessel.
The team composed of specialist engineers/personnel from the RN, BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence’s procurement unit Defence and Equipment Support (DE&S).
The new 6,000t Type 26 frigate was towed upstream to Scotstoun, where the company will continue the remaining construction, outfitting and testing work before Glasgow’s final commissioning.
HMS Glasgow senior naval officer commander Phil Burgess said: “I’m now looking forward to having ship alongside at BAE Scotstoun yard where she will commence the next stage of her build.
“This will see commissioning and setting to work of myriad systems that will enable this first of class Type 26 frigate to deliver world-class leading capability when the ship enters service.”
